The Shortcut
by thelionheartedgirl
Summary: STEAM POWERED GIRAFFE. After one of Jon's bad ideas becomes his worst idea ever, he and Michael must struggle to stay alive until they are rescued... Jon and Michael centric, massive amounts of whump and angst. Spine, Rabbit, Steve and Sam are also included but more for a change of scenery than anything. No flames please, constructive criticism always appreciated.
1. Prologue

**Hey there kids, welcome to my first attempt at writing fanfiction in well over a year. The reason I have finally emerged from my year-long writer's block? I've recently become ridiculously obsessed with Steam Powered Giraffe and everything associated with it. I'm not kidding; if I'm not trying to throw together an entire (month long) college project the day before it's due, I'm reading SPG fanfiction. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before a fanfiction of my own emerged from the enormous train wreck that is my imagination. As I'm a (somewhat) newer member of the fandom, I'm not 200% certain that the way I've portrayed the band members is correct, but I'm trying, really I am. Prepare yourselves for some OOCness though, seriously. Oh, and I beat up the characters I love the most, so get ready for A LOT of angst and whump. Welp, without further adieu, here's the first of (hopefully) quite a few chapters of The Shortcut... The next chapter will be longer, I promise.**

**So, enjoy... I hope :S**

* * *

It had been, in hindsight, a spectacularly stupid idea to begin with. Not, however, that this was entirely surprising considering it was The Jon from whom the idea had sprung in the first place.

Michael sighed, shifting uncomfortably in the darkened room. He let out a weak cough as his body protested the inhalation of air so thick with dust it was almost suffocating. _Trust Jon to be the one to get us into this situation_, he thought in exasperation, sparing a concerned glance to the smallest automaton's motionless form lying face down next to him in the rubble. The youngest 'bot hadn't stirred since he's awoken and found himself in his current predicament and Michael was deeply concerned for his well-being. As concerned as he was, however, he was incapable of moving his body at all without causing himself a great deal of pain and had long since concluded that he simply couldn't reach his friend to help him, much to his dismay.

He dragged his gaze away, reluctantly, and moved it to the gaping hole in the ceiling several metres above them, edges still crumbling away slightly every so often from their trip through from the floor above. The plaster from the hole was collecting in a wide circle around them both, some of it dropping into the Jon's wig turning it a dusty grey colour in the dim light that trickled through.

He coughed again, this time doubling over in pain as one cough turned into another until he was having a full on coughing fit. Blood dribbled from the corner of his lips and onto the ground as his broken ribs protested the movement, creaking painfully in his chest. When the fit finally ended, several painful minutes later, he flopped bonelessly against the wall behind him and waited for the ringing in his ears to pass; the black and purple spots dancing in his vision to clear. Gasping in agony, he clutched one hand to his battered chest in a pathetic attempt to ease the pain and reached out with the other to grasp The Jon's right shoulder, gently shaking him.

"C-come on, Jon. Just wake... wake up already... you i-idiot. Th-this is all your... your f-fault... after all."

He barely managed to choke out the words, finding that the effort of speaking just those few words has drained what little energy he had left from his previous coughing fit. He let out another wheezing cough and closed his eyes, feeling himself sink into oblivion as he drifted into unconsciousness.

_Hurry up and find us, guys..._


	2. Curiosity killed the cat

**Hey guys, welcome to the first chapter of The Shortcut (since the previous chapter was technically a prologue). I acknowledge that my grammar and dialogue are shaky at best and my characterisation is probably horrible, but please bear with me; I'm learning :P Anywho, this chapter will detail the events leading up to the situation Michael and Jon found themselves in last chapter. Hope you guys think it's okay... Welp, enjoy.**

* * *

**Previously:**

_"He barely managed to choke out the words, finding that the effort of speaking just those few words has drained what little energy he had left from his previous coughing fit. He let out another wheezing cough and closed his eyes, feeling himself sink into oblivion as he drifted into unconsciousness._

'Hurry up and find us, guys...'"

* * *

***3 hours earlier***

"Woah, check it out Michael, a real life pirate ship!"

Michael smiled fondly at the smallest automaton as he gawked at the latest thing to catch his eye at the theme park. The two had been excused from the rest of the group a few hours earlier, after their set was finished up on the main stage. All of the other band members had been too tired to deal with an overexcited The Jon, who had been eager to nose around the park attractions from the moment they had first arrived. Of course, Michael was also exhausted, but since he tended to be the most tolerant of The Jon's antics next to Rabbit (who really was not to be trusted to supervise Jon as the two were just as bad as each other), he'd been elected to accompany him. Under no circumstances was The Jon ever to be left unaccompanied around large groups of people and/or cats, that much they had learned long ago.

Michael stepped forwards so that he was standing next to The Jon, who was flailing his arms about wildly in the general direction of the so called pirate ship before him. It wasn't really a pirate ship of course; more of a small stage made up to look like one, but Jon seemed adamant that it was the real thing.

"Michael, Michael, can we climb aboard? We could be pirates! Pirates Michael!"  
The Jon turned to look at him pleadingly, eyes gleaming with anticipation, hopping from one foot to the other restlessly. Michael almost gave in. Almost.

"Jon, I'm sorry, but we were supposed to meet the others back at the bus almost half an hour ago. If we hang about here any longer they're going to murder us!"

It was true; the arranged meet up time back at the bus had come and gone whilst he and Jon had been making their way through a huge maze situated at the centre of the park, a feat which had taken the pair well over an hour to accomplish. Jon wilted.  
"But _pirates_, Michael…"

Michael shook his head firmly and took hold of The Jon's shoulders with both hands, steering him away from the so called 'pirate ship'.  
"Nope, we're definitely leaving now, buddy. Besides, we're going to be back here tomorrow anyway for our last set; we can play on it then."

The Jon nodded glumly and reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled away from the 'ship'.

-

Several minutes later found them no closer to the exit than before. The Jon had been veering off course to inspect stalls and rides constantly and no amount of complaining on Michael's part could convince him to start heading back as they had intended. It was beginning to get dark now too, the sky now ablaze with deep pink and purple hues.  
_Yep, we are so dead_, Michael thought to himself, sighing internally. He whipped his phone from the back pocket of his jeans, sending a quick text to Steve's mobile explaining their situation. Once the text was sent, he shoved the phone back into his pocket and strode across the grass to where Jon was waiting for him, having finally stopped flitting from one place to another at a rate of knots. As he got close, Jon called out to him.

"Hey Michael, what's in here?"  
Michael reached his side and looked up at the tall white barrier before them. A huge set of double doors sat in the middle of the makeshift wall, the words "DANGER: KEEP OUT" painted across them in bold black lettering.  
_Well that sure sounds foreboding_, he thought. _Wonder what IS in there?_

"No idea, maybe they're building something back here? Doesn't matter anyway since we're definitely heading back right now, I'm serious this ti… h-hey, wait a minute, Jon!

He dashed forwards to where The Jon had disappeared through a small gap in the barrier, peering through to find the youngest 'bot standing a few feet away, gazing around at the new surroundings in wonder. With a weary sigh, he climbed cautiously through the hole after him and looked around in astonishment.

Long abandoned rides, dusty and crumbling from lack of maintenance, lined the path they had found themselves on. Further down the path he could see disused buildings and rotting wooden park benches stretching into the distance alongside the rides. He noted that all of the rides looked incredibly unsafe and instantly vowed not to let Jon go anywhere near them.  
"Guess they're planning to knock this part of the park down or something; looks pretty damn old. Probably hasn't been used in years."

Jon turned to face him, quiet for once. Michael took advantage of the silence.  
"I'm pretty sure this place was blocked off for a reason, if the big 'Keep Out' sign on the door is anything to go by. Come on Jon, let's just get out of here before one of us gets hurt."

Not much to his surprise, Jon shook his head stubbornly.  
"Nah, we can get back to the bus in like half the time if we go through here. I saw it one the map, see?"  
He waved a crumpled map in front of Michael's face, frantically. Michael grabbed it and peered at it closely. Jon had been right; according to the map the park gates were only a short distance away from where they currently stood. If they went through the abandoned park they would indeed make it back to the others in half the time it would take to go around. He shivered lightly, stuffing the map into his pocket with his phone for safekeeping.

Under normal circumstances, he'd have protested furiously to an idea such as this one. Not only was it an incredibly dangerous place to be, it was also damn creepy, especially now that it was getting dark. However, it was starting to get seriously chilly out and he found himself wishing he'd brought a jacket with him. He checked his watch: 22:00. Guess they didn't have much of a choice, then.  
"Fine, you win. But don't. Touch. _Anything_. We good?"  
Jon grinned triumphantly and shot off down the path, giggling. Michael followed behind at a more leisurely pace, making sure he could still see Jon ahead at all times.

-

After a few strangely uneventful minutes of walking, Jon suddenly appeared at Michael's side once more.  
"Jesus, Jon, you almost gave me a heart attack!" he exclaimed, clutching a hand to his chest dramatically. Jon pretended not to hear him, instead grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him down the path.

"Whoa, hey, what's the rush? Thought you didn't care about being late back."  
The automaton said nothing, continuing to pull him towards a nearby building, a determined look on his face.  
Once they reached the door, he freed his wrist from Jon's grip, turning to look into the face of a troubled Jon, intently.  
"Jon, seriously, what's wrong? You're starting to freak me out here."

The 'bot looked him in the eyes and then moved his gaze to the doors to the building (_Café_, Michael concluded silently).  
"I saw a cat."  
Michael gawked.

"A… cat? _That's_ what this was about? A _cat?_ Jon…"  
The golden robot nodded, looking back at the human next to him.  
"It's dangerous here Michael, it could get hurt! We should go and rescue it!"

Michael stood his ground.  
"I'm sure it can take care of itself, Jon, it _is_ a cat after all. Not to mention the fact that _we're_ probably more likely to get hurt in there, anyway. I'm sorry, but no way are we going in there."  
Jon pouted and turned to walk away, dejected. Michael sighed in relief, looking forward to getting out of the cold and promising himself he'd make it up to Jon tomorrow, somehow. After almost an hour of dawdling, they were finally about to make it back to the bus.

However, it seemed he had spoken too soon, and not for the first time that day. A quiet meow from somewhere inside the building was all it took for Jon to turn back around, throw open the door and shoot inside the dark building, before Michael could even react. He swore loudly, tearing through the still open door after him. He only just caught sight of a pair of red suspenders disappearing into a room at the back of the café. He stumbled as he gave chase, the room too dark to successfully navigate around the debris scattered across the floor.

He skidded to a halt in the doorway, just able to make out the metallic form of his friend at the far end of the room by the dwindling sunlight trickling in from a nearby window. A small white cat sat just a few metres ahead of him, watching the two men curiously.  
The next few seconds passed in a cacophony of noise and panic.

The Jon took a step forwards to reach the cat, not noticing the unsteady floorboards beneath his feet. They gave way instantly as he shifted his weight onto them and he screeched in shock as he began to fall through the hole. Michael shot forwards with the intention of pulling his friend to safety, forgetting in the heat of the moment that Jon weighed quite a bit more than a normal human. He clamped a hand around The Jon's forearm as he fell and was dragged through the hole after him. He gasped as he felt something sharp pierce the skin of his stomach as he was pulled roughly past the jagged edges of the hole. The sound of The Jon's screech filled his ears as he watched the ground below rise impossible fast up to reach them.

He was vaguely aware of a distant, searing pain as he hit the ground before he was knocked unconscious.

* * *

**A/N: In England, suspenders are things that hold up stockings for sexy underwear, so that part about Jon wearing them was very strange to write... excuse me, I have a slightly disturbing mental image to remove from my brain. Stay tuned for the next chapter guys, it'll have Spine and Rabbit in it, I swear! Anyway, please R&R and remember; constructive criticism is always welcome. **  
**Thanks for reading ^_^**


	3. Voicemail

**Hey, if you're reading this, I like you, because that means that you haven't gotten bored of me yet! Thanks for reading so far :)**

**I really don't like how this chapter came out. Probably because of all the clunky dialogue, but eh. Whatever xD**  
**So yeah, Rabbit, Steve, Sam and Spine in this chapter, yay! Well, I know Spine didn't actually SAY anything but... well, he was in it. So there.**  
**Sorry that this chapter is so boring, I really wanted to show the others' reactions to Michael and Jon's disappearances. Unfortunately, that meant a buttload of dialogue. So lots of OOC here. Awesome.**

* * *

**Previously:**

_'Michael shot forwards with the intention of pulling his friend to safety, forgetting in the heat of the moment that Jon weighed quite a bit more than a normal human. He clamped a hand around The Jon's forearm as he fell and was dragged through the hole after him. He gasped as he felt something sharp pierce the skin of his stomach as he was pulled roughly past the jagged edges of the hole. The sound of The Jon's screech filled his ears as he watched the ground below rise impossible fast up to reach them._

_He was vaguely aware of a distant, searing pain as he hit the ground before he was knocked unconscious.'_

* * *

Steve stared down at his phone with a look of complete exasperation. He read and re-read the text message several times, as if expecting the short sentence to alter itself somehow each time he read it.

**'-Jon being pain in ass, will be late, sorry-'**

He pinched the bridge of his nose, a scowl creeping onto his face as he resigned himself to the fact that they would have to wait for the two to return before they could head over to the hotel they were booked into and get some much needed sleep. He was more than a little angry that Michael hadn't contacted him sooner, as he'd been late for quite some time already. It was already 10 o'clock, almost 45 minutes after their arranged meet up time of 9:15. Truth be told, Steve should really have seen this coming.

He sent a scathing reply and then pocketed his phone, turning around in his seat to check on the two automatons seated at the back of the bus, powered down for the moment as they let their systems recover from the lively performance from earlier that day.  
Satisfied that they were alright still, he sighed noisily and pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes as he fought back the waves of drowsiness that came over him. He'd been up since very early that morning in order to drive the band to the venue on time, and coupled with all the rigorous sound checks and vlogging he'd been doing, he hadn't gotten any rest at all that day. Sam had gone off to search for the two missing band members a few minutes ago, claiming that if they were going to take their sweet time getting back, he'd drag their sorry asses back himself.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a little voice told him that it was probably not safe for him to be driving back to the hotel in his state anyway, so he should make the most of this time and get some rest. He let his forehead fall onto arms crossed over the steering wheel, using them as a makeshift pillow as he closed his eyes. As he listened to the muffled sound of passing traffic from a nearby road, he felt himself drift off and before he knew it he was out for the count.

* * *

After what felt like only a few seconds, he found himself being shaken roughly awake by a pair of hands on his shoulders. He blinked hard and wiped the sleep from his eyes as he sat upright once more, turning his entire body in the driver's seat to face the one who had so rudely awakened him. He found himself looking up into the worried eyes of none other than Sam Luke. He wondered then just how long he had been asleep, if Sam had managed to search the whole park and get back before he awoke. "Oh, hey Sam. You find 'em?"

Sam's face twisted into a mask of concern and Steve felt his heart plummet. "I... I couldn't find them anywhere. I searched the whole park but there was no sign of them. I asked around, but most of the people who would have seen them had already gone home; the park closed almost an hour ago!"

Steve pursed his lips tightly, fighting back the rising concern as he thought of what that could mean. He was determined to keep an optimistic outlook on the situation, however, as it was highly likely that the two had simply gone off somewhere and forgotten to inform them. This was actually very likely, seeing as Michael had The Jon to look after. He was probably just too busy keeping the smallest automaton out of trouble to send them a message about their whereabouts. That is, if the earlier text message he'd received was any implication.

"Well... I wouldn't worry about it too much. They're probably fine; Jon's just driving Michael up the wall so much that he forgot to check in with us, that's all," he replied, pushing himself up an out of his seat to stand in front of Sam and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He pulled out his phone and showed Sam the text he'd received from Michael, trying to convince the other man that Michael was probably just busy.

Sam remained unconvinced. "He hasn't replied, has he?"

Steve shook his head, frowning down at the phone.

"Try calling him, Steve, just to be sure."

Steve sighed and flicked through his contacts list until he landed on Michael's number. He rang it and waited, impatiently.

The call went straight to voicemail.

He huffed in frustration and tried again, receiving the same result a second and third time. Now he was worried. Sam sank into the nearest seat and twiddled his thumbs. Steve could see him trying not to freak out.  
"...Maybe his phone just ran out of juice? I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for this, I mean it's a theme park; how much trouble could they possibly get into...?"  
The two locked eyes as he trailed off, both knowing the answer to that question. Suddenly a voice piped up from the back of the bus.

"Uh, g-guys? What're ya talkin' about? Has somethin' happened?"

They turned to see Rabbit, now powered on, pulling himself to his feet and making his way down the aisle towards them, photoreceptors wide with concern.

"Oh, uh, hey Rabbit. How long have you been up...?" Sam asked, cautiously. Rabbit sent a strangely serious look his way.  
"Long enough to hear somethin' about juice and people g-gettin' into trouble." He looked around the bus before adding, "Where're Jon and Mister Reed? They shoulda b-been back hours ago."

Steve and Sam exchanged an uncomfortable glance. "Rabbit," Steve began, "don't freak out."

Rabbit sank into a seat, face darkening visibly. "Oh God, what's h-h-happened to 'em?"

Sam jumped in, quickly. "We don't know yet, but it's probably nothing; we're probably completely overreacting..."

Steve picked up as he trailed off. "They haven't made it back to the bus yet and we can't get hold of Michael on his phone."

Rabbit looked thoughtful. "Well, he IS with Jon. They c-coulda gotten sidetracked, maybe."  
"We've already thought of that," Steve admitted. "Sam's right, it probably is nothing. But..."

A long silence followed, all three men running worst case scenarios through their heads. Rabbit was the first to break it. "We should t-tell The Spine..."

He headed back down to the end of the bus, where The Spine was still powered down, but Steve shot forwards and grabbed his wrist before he could reach him. "Rabbit, let him sleep. He doesn't want to be woken up just so we can worry him about something that might not even be true. Jon and Michael are fine, I'm sure of it."

He pushed him into a seat and beckoned Sam over to do the same. Once they were all seated again, this time closer to the back of the bus, he leaned forwards, a determined look on his face.  
"Okay, so here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna wait here for another half an hour. If they're not back by then, we'll wake Spine and go and look around the town."

"What if they ain't there either?" Rabbit piped up, anxiously. Steve bit his lip.

"Then... Then I guess we'll have to ask a security guard to let us look around the park or something. If we can't do that, then I guess we'll have to go to the police about it."

Sam patted Rabbit on the shoulder, gently. "They'll turn up Rabbit, don't worry." Rabbit nodded, though he didn't really believe it.

The three men spent the next half an hour in complete silence.


End file.
